rabble.ca - attack on Gazahttps://rabble.ca/category/tags/attack-on-gaza
enThe defiance that launched Gaza’s flaming kites cannot be extinguishedhttps://rabble.ca/news/2018/06/defiance-launched-gaza%E2%80%99s-flaming-kites-cannot-be-extinguished
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Jonathan Cook</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news/2018/06/defiance-launched-gaza%E2%80%99s-flaming-kites-cannot-be-extinguished"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/7081944585_3a6363fc56_o.jpg?itok=18mJKaT_" width="1180" height="600" alt="From the film &quot;Flying Paper&quot;. Photo: Flying Paper Doc/Flickr" title="From the film &quot;Flying Paper&quot;. Photo: Flying Paper Doc/Flickr" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>First Israel built a sophisticated missile interception system named Iron Dome to neutralize the threat of homemade rockets fired out of Gaza.</p>
<p>Next it created technology that could detect and destroy tunnels Palestinians had cut through the parched earth deep under the fences Israel erected to imprison Gaza on all sides.</p>
<p>Israel’s priority was to keep Gaza locked down with a blockade and its two million inhabitants invisible.</p>
<p>Now Israel is facing a new and apparently even tougher challenge: how to stop Palestinian resistance from Gaza using flaming kites, which have set fire to lands close by in Israel. F-16 fighter jets are equipped to take on many foes but not the humble kite.</p>
<p>These various innovations by Palestinians are widely seen by Israelis as part of the same relentless campaign by Hamas to destroy their country.</p>
<p>But from inside Gaza, things look very different. These initiatives are driven by a mix of recognisably human emotions: a refusal to bow before crushing oppression; a fear of becoming complicit through silence and inaction in being erased and forgotten; and a compelling need to take back control of one’s life.</p>
<p>Palestinians encaged in Gaza, denied entry and exit by Israel via land, sea and air for more than a decade, know that life there is rapidly becoming unsustainable. Most young people are unemployed, much of the infrastructure and housing are irreparably damaged, and polluted water sources are near-unpotable.</p>
<p>After waves of military attacks, Gaza’s children are traumatised with mental scars that may never heal.</p>
<p>This catastrophe was carefully engineered by Israel, which renews and enforces it daily.</p>
<p>The kites have long served as a potent symbol of freedom in Gaza. Children have flown them from the few spots in the tiny, congested enclave where people can still breathe -- from rooftops or on Gaza’s beaches.</p>
<p>Five years ago, the film<em>Flying Paper</em>documented the successful efforts of Gaza’s children to set a new world record for mass kite-flying. The children defied Israel’s blockade, which prevents entry of most goods, by making kites from sticks, newspapers and scraps of plastic.</p>
<p>The children’s ambition was -- if only briefly -- to retake Gaza’s skies, which Israel dominates with its unseen, death-dealing drones that buzz interminably overhead and with missiles that can flatten a building in seconds.</p>
<p>A young girl observed of the kite’s lure: “When we fly the kite, we know that freedom exists.” A message scrawled on one read: “I have the right to pride, education, justice, equality and life.”</p>
<p>But the world record attempt was not only about the children’s dreams and their defiance. It was intended to highlight Gaza’s confinement and to issue a reminder that Palestinians, too, are human.</p>
<p>That same generation of children have grown into the youths being picked off weekly by Israeli snipers at unarmed protests at the perimeter fence -- the most visible feature of Israel’s infrastructure of imprisonment.</p>
<p>A few have taken up kite-flying again. If they have refused to put away childish things, this time they have discarded their childish idealism. Their world record did not win them freedom, nor even much notice.</p>
<p>After the snipers began maiming thousands of the demonstrators, including children, medics and journalists, for the impudence of imagining they had a right to liberty, the enclave’s youths reinvented the kite’s role.</p>
<p>If it failed to serve as a reminder of Palestinians’ humanity, it could at least remind Israel and the outside world of their presence, of the cost of leaving two million human beings to rot.</p>
<p>So, the kites were set on fire, flaming emissaries that brought a new kind of reckoning for Israel when they landed on the other side of the fence.</p>
<p>Gaza’s inhabitants can still see the lands from which many of them were expelled during the mass dispossession of the Palestinian people in 1948 -- under western colonial sponsorship -- to create a Jewish state.</p>
<p>Not only were those lands taken from them, but the Jewish farming communities that replaced them now irrigate their crops using water Palestinians are deprived of, including water seized from aquifers under the West Bank.</p>
<p>The kites have rained fire down on this idyll created by Israel at the expense of Gaza’s inhabitants. No one has been hurt but Israel claims extinguishing the fires has already cost some $2 million and 7,000 acres of farmland have been damaged.</p>
<p>Sadly, given the profound sense of entitlement that afflicts many Israelis, a small dent in their material wellbeing has not pricked consciences about the incomparably greater suffering only a few kilometres away in Gaza.</p>
<p>Instead, Israel’s public security minister Gilad Erdan called last week for anyone flying a kite, even young children, to be shot. He and other ministers have argued that another large-scale military assault on Gaza is necessary to create what Erdan has termed “durable deterrence”.</p>
<p>That moment seems to be moving inexorably closer. The last few days have seen Israel launch punitive air strikes to stop the kites and Palestinian factions retaliate by firing significant numbers of rockets out of Gaza for the first time in years.</p>
<p>The Trump administration is no longer pretending to mediate. It has publicly thrown in its hand with Israel. It withdrew last week from the United Nations Human Rights Council, accusing it of being a “cesspool of political bias” after the council criticized Israel for executing Gaza’s unarmed demonstrators.</p>
<p>On a visit to the region last week, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, urged ordinary Palestinians to rebel against their leaders’ refusal to accept a long-awaited US peace plan that all evidence suggests will further undermine Palestinian hopes of a viable state.</p>
<p>Kushner is apparently unaware that the Palestinian public is expressing its will, for liberation, by protesting at the Gaza fence -- and risking execution by Israel for doing so.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Prince William is due in Israel on Monday, the first British royal to make an official visit since the mandate ended 70 years ago. While Kensington Palace has stressed that the trip is non-political, William will meet both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in an itinerary that has already been claimed by both sides as a victory.</p>
<p>From the vantage point of the Mount of Olives, from which he will view Jerusalem’s Old City, the prince may not quite manage to see the kite battles in Gaza’s skies that underscore who is Goliath and who is David. But he should see enough in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem to understand that western leaders have decisively chosen the side of Goliath.</p>
<p><em>A version of this article first appeared in the National, Abu Dhabi.</em></p>
<p><em>Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His books include “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). His website is <a href="http://www.jonathan-cook.net/" target="_blank">www.jonathan-cook.net</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77258948@N07/7081944585/">Flying Paper Doc/Flickr</a></em></p>
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</div></div></div>Mon, 25 Jun 2018 17:24:31 +0000rabble staff147736 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/news/2018/06/defiance-launched-gaza%E2%80%99s-flaming-kites-cannot-be-extinguished#commentsWhen will those responsible for Gaza atrocities be held to account?https://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/05/when-will-those-responsible-gaza-atrocities-be-held-account
<div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/3286231988_476f56d43a_b.jpg?itok=nQYmX7dj" width="1180" height="600" alt="Child sits near wreckage in Gaza. Photo: andlun1/Flickr" title="Child sits near wreckage in Gaza. Photo: andlun1/Flickr" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>As the United States and Israel celebrated the official opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, May 14, about an hour away the Israeli military was firing on thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians were part of a massive, nonviolent protest movement called the Great March of Return. On that day alone, Israeli forces killed over 60 Palestinians and injured 2,700. Among the injured was a Canadian emergency room doctor, Tarek Loubani, who had gone to Gaza to help injured Palestinians. Since March 30, the Israeli forces have killed over 119 Palestinians and injured over 12,000.</p>
<p>The Israel Defense Forces had sniper posts up and down the Israeli-built fence that keeps close to two million Palestinians in a state of virtual imprisonment in Gaza. "We were away from the protest area, 25 metres south of the protesters. It was calm," Tarek Loubani said on the <em>Democracy Now!</em> news hour. "We could see the sniper posts. For sure, they could see us. I was just sort of talking to the medical team. … That's when, unfortunately, I heard a loud bang, found myself on the ground and realized I had been shot."</p>
<p>Dr. Loubani described his rescue:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"The first rescuer who came to me was a man named Musa, a paramedic, who was excellent and who I've trained with and helped train. He sort of came over, was like, 'Look, Doctor, what have you done to yourself here?' looked at my leg, cut my pants and started work." A bullet had passed through both of his legs. Musa asked if the doctor wanted a tourniquet. "I knew that I needed one, but I thought, 'We only have eight.' One of them was in my back pocket. I took it out. I threw it to them, and I said, 'No, use it for somebody else.' I knew there were many more gunshots to come."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Dr. Loubani continued: "Musa Abuhassanin was a great guy. I'm talking about him in the past tense because about an hour after he rescued me, he ended up going back to the field on a call, and, unfortunately, he was shot in the chest. There was so much fire around him and so much live ammunition that his colleagues couldn't get to him and couldn't treat him."</p>
<p>Dr. Loubani tweeted a photo captioned: "A haunting photo, Friday, May 11. Left: Mohammed Migdad, shot in the right ankle. Hassan Abusaada. Tarek Loubani, shot in left leg and right knee. Moumin Silmi. Youssef Almamlouk. Musa Abuhassanin, shot in the thorax and killed. Volunteer unknown. Photographer: shot and wounded."</p>
<p>Loubani said he or any other trauma responder could have saved Musa, but the Israeli sniper fire prevented the well-marked medical personnel from reaching him. Reporting from the same protest, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, <em>Democracy Now!</em> correspondent and Puffin Fellow at The Nation Institute, told us: "The sniper bullets don't come in quick succession. It's not a barrage of fire. It's methodical. It's patient. It's precise. You hear a shot, and someone falls down. Then his bloodied body is carried away. You wait a few minutes, you hear another shot, and another body falls."</p>
<p>As far back as 2010, then British Prime Minister David Cameron called Gaza "a sort of open-air prison." The United Nations has declared Gaza "unlivable."</p>
<p>People around the globe have expressed outrage at the slaughter, including from inside Israel. Nine prominent Israelis, including Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Knesset, wrote that they were "appalled and horrified by the massive killing of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza. None of the demonstrators posed any direct danger to the state of Israel or to its citizens. The killing of over 50 demonstrators and the thousands more wounded are reminiscent of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 in South Africa."</p>
<p>In the midst of the six-week protest, Jerusalem-born, Israeli-American Oscar-winning actor Natalie Portman declined to go to Israel for her $2 million Genesis Prize, saying in a statement: "[T]he mistreatment of those suffering from today's atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values. Because I care about Israel, I must stand up against violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power."</p>
<p>At the United Nations, the U.S. blocked a Security Council motion to launch an investigation. President Donald Trump was represented at the U.S. Embassy ceremony by his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who in his speech blamed the violence on the Palestinians.</p>
<p>Lies take lives. An investigation is not enough. The occupation must end, and those responsible for the slaughter must be held accountable.</p>
<p><em>Amy Goodman is the host of </em>Democracy Now!<em>, a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,300 stations. She is the co-author, with Denis Moynihan, of</em> The Silenced Majority<em>, a</em> New York Times <em>bestseller. <em><em><em><em><em><em><em><em>T</em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em>his column originally appeared on </em><a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/after-latest-gaza-slaughter-open-an-investigation-end-the-occupation/" target="_blank">Truthdig</a>.</p>
<p><em>Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/andreasl/3286231988/in/photolist-61oNhd-26gStAc-5Qq6Pt-69raYL-5GCjvp-oCzXtQ-26gGCmZ-mJNCVo-mLsLBV-mJy8Xm-oCbQxk-mJSHFP-61q1pH-oyZekk-97sqDW-5RAqBj-oCbR6e-5UfPvZ-obXLdF-mLvQ5i-5SUzNc-oEdrPR-mJPTHr-5Qa6CU-mJSH9M-61oTpo-65vFKw-65puha-61rb72-5SZfKY-7JFqSj-mLvQaD-5SPpAt-65tMv3-5RCaLu-61juhV-5SzbcE-HPRNi1-okY4Qb-oCqNZU-5STJjw-pDUvk4-5SUXqS-oqZ1as-pnG431-oc5NCg-63oF5P-5TCPtn-5Qa6qW-62yvSY" target="_blank">andlun1/Flickr</a></em></p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/palestinian-human-rights">palestinian human rights</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/israel-palestine-conflict">Israel-Palestine Conflict</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/attack-on-gaza">attack on Gaza</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/us-foreign-policy">U.S. foreign policy</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/38364">Amy Goodman</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/bios/denis-moynihan">Denis Moynihan</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-story-publish-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">May 31, 2018</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item1 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/news/2018/05/gazas-toxic-biosphere-war-unescapable" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gaza&#039;s toxic &#039;biosphere of war&#039; is unescapable </a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item1-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">While an attitude persists that &quot;today, no one in Israel experiences water scarcity,&quot; Gazans are suffering deplorable conditions of poisoned water.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item2 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/gerry-caplans-blog/2018/05/bibis-chutzpah">Bibi&#039;s chutzpah</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item2-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Palestinians have no hope for a better future. They protest without hope. Bibi doesn&#039;t care. CIJA doesn&#039;t care. Blame everything on Hamas. Everything. That is chutzpah.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item3 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/dr-dawgs-blawg/2018/05/responses-gaza-border-protests-show-how-surreal-israel-has" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Responses to Gaza border protests show how surreal Israel has become</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item3-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">It is impossible to make sense of a fundamentally senseless situation. A pessimist&#039;s view of recent events in Gaza.</div></div></div>Thu, 31 May 2018 15:32:56 +0000rabble staff146816 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/05/when-will-those-responsible-gaza-atrocities-be-held-account#commentsDemand that Canada do more than equivocate about Gazahttps://rabble.ca/toolkit/3-minute-action/demand-canada-do-more-equivocate-about-gaza
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-20 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/toolkit/3-minute-action">3 Minute Action</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/toolkit/3-minute-action/demand-canada-do-more-equivocate-about-gaza"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/Destruction_of_Gaza_1_0.jpg?itok=uVVCp7TP" width="1180" height="600" alt="Image from Wikimedia commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Destruction_of_Gaza_1.jpg" title="Image from Wikimedia commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Destruction_of_Gaza_1.jpg" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Chrystia Freeland decided to <a href="http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2018/05/14/canada-deeply-concerned-by-gaza-violence-says-freeland/" target="_blank">blame both parties</a> for the deaths in Gaza despite the fact that other countries are being far more <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-05-15-israel-comes-under-fire-from-world-leaders-for-gaza-attack" target="_blank">unambiguous</a> in their criticism of Israel's monstrous attack on protestors. So what can we do when the federal Liberal government insists on being a mealy mouthed supporter of genocide?</p>
<p>1) <a href="https://openparliament.ca/politicians/chrystia-freeland/contact/" target="_blank">Contact</a> Chrystia Freeland to demand action and if you can join this emergency action at her <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/277265809480741/" target="_blank">office</a> </p>
<p>2) Share the many tools and stories being circulated of the protest and the attacks on social media.</p>
<p>3) Engage your friends and talk about what is happening. The silencing of debate about Israel and Palestine is literally deadly.</p>
<p>4) Donate to organizations working on human rights and to help Palestinians. The <a href="https://www.palestinecampaign.org/history/other-organisations/palestinian-organisations/" target="_blank">Palestinian Solidarity Campaign</a> has put together a list of local organizations which you could support. </p>
<p>5) Support Canadian organizations like the <a href="http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/rabble-radio/2018/05/canadians-help-launch-years-freedom-flotilla-gaza-special">Canadian Boat to Gaza</a> as they build support for the <em>Al Awda, </em>the Freedom Flotilla boat which set sail from Norway on Monday, April 30th. Despite the federal government repression of <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/tags/canada" target="_blank">BDS Canada</a>, it continues to exist, and organizatins like Amnesty International continue to publish <a href="https://www.amnesty.ca/our-work/priority-countries/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories" target="_blank">reports</a>.</p>
<p>The international community has calling for the UN Human Rights Council to have a meeting about the Gaza killings, which will happen on Friday. Stay tuned to how Canada handles this inquiry. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/gaza">Gaza</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/political-action">Political Action</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/world">World</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/gaza">Gaza</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/13438">Israel</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/attack-on-gaza">attack on Gaza</a></div></div></div>Wed, 16 May 2018 18:20:10 +0000The Activist Toolkit146171 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/toolkit/3-minute-action/demand-canada-do-more-equivocate-about-gaza#commentsIsrael is proving to be Canadian journalism's Achilles heel https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/dr-dawgs-blawg/2018/04/israel-proving-be-canadian-journalisms-achilles-heel
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">J. Baglow</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/3372696804_bdc7d4c041_b.jpg?itok=kAcZqyot" width="1180" height="600" alt="Journalists inspect building after it was burned by the Israeli military. Photo: Al Jazeera English/Flickr" title="Journalists inspect building after it was burned by the Israeli military. Photo: Al Jazeera English/Flickr" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Stupid, stupid Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. It dared to stand up for journalists shot by Israeli snipers at the Gaza border. Didn't the CJFE know that criticizing Israel is off-limits?</p>
<p>Now the statement expressing concern has been <a href="https://www.cjfe.org/good_friday_massacre_in_gaza_sees_journalists_protesters_treated_as_military_targets" target="_blank">deep-sixed</a>, the CJFE Communications Director, Kevin Metcalf, has been <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kevinbmetcalf/posts/10156053072106211" target="_blank">thrown under the bus</a>, and the organization itself, <a href="http://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/cjfe-backtracks-on-pro-palestinian-statement-may-shut-down-entirely" target="_blank">thoroughly cowed</a> at this point, is reportedly on the rocks. (You can find the censored statement at the second-last link, by scrolling down.)</p>
<p>If you think Canadian journalists are upset by this ironic turn of events, guess again. They have been leaping to condemn CJFE and Metcalf (a journalist in his own right, who has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPJMIeZazWQ" target="_blank">taken his lumps</a> for covering Canada's alt-right) in particular.</p>
<p>The hypocrisy is monumental; it is staggering. <a href="https://twitter.com/jonkay/status/983172399725072384" target="_blank">Jonathan Kay</a>, who has been wittering on for months about an alleged threat to free speech on Canadian university campuses, was first on board to mock Metcalf. He considers it "hijacking" the CJFE to condemn the deliberate targeting of journalists by the Israel Defence Forces, and the shooting of unarmed demonstrators in general.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/DougSaunders/status/980954360359288837" target="_blank">Doug Saunders</a>, the <em>Globe and Mail</em>'s foreign affairs correspondent, complains that the impartiality for which journalism is supposedly known (permit a mild eye-roll here) has been compromised by calling upon the Canadian government to act. He called the statement disturbing, and accused CJFE of "politicking." He must have <a href="https://www.cjfe.org/thanks_for_supporting_free_expression_in_iran" target="_blank">missed this</a>. <a href="https://www.cjfe.org/cjfe_concerned_by_russian_ban_on_digital_security_technologies" target="_blank">And this</a>. <a href="https://www.cjfe.org/impunity_china" target="_blank">And this</a>. <a href="https://www.cjfe.org/shia_cleric_faces_crucifixion_in_sunni_ruled_saudi_arabia" target="_blank">And this</a>. Certainly we have heard no complaints from Saunders about any of that.</p>
<p>Self-styled media critic <a href="https://twitter.com/JesseBrown/status/983185556757762049" target="_blank">Jesse Brown</a> called the CJFE's statement a "mistake." <a href="https://twitter.com/RobynUrback/status/981231501160452097" target="_blank">Robyn Urback</a>, opinions editor for the CBC, extended her claws. And Chris Selley of Postmedia evidently thinks that standing up for his dead and wounded colleagues in Palestine is <a href="https://twitter.com/cselley/status/983175554303234048" target="_blank">plain foolish</a>.</p>
<p>The CJFE's remit, let us remind ourselves, is <a href="https://www.cjfe.org/about-us" target="_blank">this</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>CJFE monitors, defends and reports on free expression and access to information in Canada and abroad. Rooted in the field of journalism, we promote a free media as essential to a fair and open society. CJFE boldly champions the free expression rights of all people, and encourages and supports individuals and groups in the protection of their own and others' free expression rights.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It has done just that. Perhaps to avoid further opprobrium, it could add "except for Israel" to its mission statement.</p>
<p>Other international watchdogs have, thank goodness, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/media-watchdog-accuses-israel-of-deliberate-shooting-of-journalists-in-gaza/" target="_blank">stepped up</a> to <a href="https://cpj.org/2018/04/palestinian-journalists-injured-covering-mass-prot.php" target="_blank">decry</a> the targeting of their fellow journalists. More generally, you can find <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-the-blockade-on-israel-s-heart-1.5978173" target="_blank">stark condemnation</a> of the Gaza violence in Israeli media, and the International Criminal Court in The Hague has found it necessary to issue a <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=180408-otp-stat" target="_blank">direct warning</a>.</p>
<p>Here at home, political party leaders, other than <a href="https://twitter.com/thejagmeetsingh/status/980451431722385408" target="_blank">Jagmeet Singh</a>,* have remained silent. Criticism of the assault on unarmed protesters has been muted, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/09/gaza-protests-palestinians-israeli-siege-occupation-marches" target="_blank">casualties continue to mount</a>. And an organization dedicated to promoting freedom of expression and the protection of journalists, daring to apply those principles to the killing and wounding of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, has been drop-kicked by journalists themselves. Israel, once again, has proven to be Canadian journalism's Achilles heel.</p>
<p><strong>*UPDATE:</strong> Green Party leader Elizabeth May has now <a href="https://www.greenparty.ca/en/statement/2018-04-09/canada-must-not-remain-silent-israeli-military-actions-gaza" target="_blank">spoken out</a>.</p>
<p><em>Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/aljazeeraenglish/3372696804/in/album-72157615715588088/" target="_blank">Al Jazeera English/Flickr</a></em></p>
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</div></div></div>Mon, 09 Apr 2018 21:51:18 +0000J. Baglow144121 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/dr-dawgs-blawg/2018/04/israel-proving-be-canadian-journalisms-achilles-heel#commentsWhen it comes to Palestine, many Canadian politicians are silenthttps://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/04/when-it-comes-palestine-many-canadian-politicians-are-silent
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/gaza">Gaza</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/politics-canada">Politics in Canada</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/world">World</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/3408052880_70534aab52_b.jpg?itok=NMDgYHHl" width="1180" height="600" alt="Boy stands by building rubble in Palestine. Photo: Grassroots International/Flickr" title="Boy stands by building rubble in Palestine. Photo: Grassroots International/Flickr" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>In June 2009, I joined a delegation of <a href="http://www.codepink.org/splash?splash=1" target="_blank">Code Pink</a> to visit Gaza. The main purpose of our delegation was to build playgrounds for the children of Gaza after Israel's brutal aerial, naval and ground attack named Operation Cast Lead. It was estimated that <a href="https://www.btselem.org/statistics/fatalities/during-cast-lead/by-date-of-event" target="_blank">1,400 Palestinians were killed </a>by Israeli security forces. Schools, hospitals, universities and a major part of Gaza's infrastructure was destroyed. The ultimate objective of our delegation was an attempt to break the siege imposed since 2007 by the Israel government on the Gaza strip -- a densely populated 365 square kilometres where 1.8 million people live, many of them in precarious conditions.</p>
<p>Our delegation was composed of U.S. human rights activists, mostly women, and a few Canadians. We were motivated by our quest for justice and our will to see with our own eyes the conditions Palestinians were living in after the devastation caused by the military operation. Armed with patience but mostly a lot of good luck, our delegation was able to cross the Gaza border with Egypt, another country complicit in maintaining this unfair and humiliating blockade.</p>
<p>Since then, two other brutal military operations (Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, Operation Protective Edge in 2014) targeted Gaza, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-palestinians-gaza/white-house-hosts-meeting-on-gaza-crisis-without-palestinians-present-idUSKCN1GP34M" target="_blank">the humanitarian crisis has deepened</a>. Last week, on March 31, Palestinians from Gaza gathered along Israel's borders for a "Great March of Return" to demand that refugees obtain rights to return to their land. It is a symbolic but strong move, expected to continue until May 15, the commemoration of the Nakba, when <a href="http://www.al-nakba-history.com/" target="_blank">Palestinians were expelled from their homes in 1948</a>. Israeli soldiers responded to these demonstrations by <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/30/israel-shelling-kills-palestinian-farmer-ahead-major-gaza-protests/" target="_blank">firing live ammunition</a> and killing 17 Palestinians and injuring more than 700 hundred people. Israel claimed that the protesters killed were either violent and part of Hamas.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/middleeast/donald-trump-us-embassy-israel-explainer/index.html" target="_blank">Last December 2017</a>, when Donald Trump decided to move the U.S. embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-trump-jerusalem-israel-1.4436251" target="_blank">Canada issued a statement</a> where it described itself as "a steadfast ally and friend of Israel and friend to the Palestinian people."</p>
<p>One assumes that if a state is an "ally and friend" with another state, both offer condolences to each other in times of tragedy and share "good advice" or at least "restraint in using force" if an "ally and friend" has fired on demonstrators, killing 17 of them and injuring more than 700.</p>
<p>But this is only if the "ally and friend" is not named "Israel" and if the victims of the military operation are not named "Palestinians." So Canada sheepishly didn't say anything to its "friend and ally" and once again let down the Palestinian people.</p>
<p>This position -- choose what you'd like to name it -- of "cowardice" or "self-censorship" or "who really cares," not only defines the action or inaction of the Canadian government in general, it also applies to individual members of Parliament, who in a democracy are supposed to enjoy freedom of opinion and some sort of immunity to speak their minds. But, once again, apparently this applies only to "some issues" and to "some countries" and not when it comes to Israel and the Palestinian people.</p>
<p>Last year, when a simple "harmless" motion, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_103" target="_blank">M-103</a>, that led to another "harmless report" with <a href="http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/m-103-report-makes-few-recommendations-about-islamophobia" target="_blank">no serious recommendations regarding Islamophobia</a> was presented in the House of Commons to study the extent of Islamophobia in Canada, many members of Parliament were panicking, speaking out, and raising the spectre of the <a href="http://www.maximebernier.com/two_threats_to_freedom_of_speech_m_103_and_c_16" target="_blank">loss of freedom of expression and a creeping sharia invading Canadian streets</a>. They were claiming that people should be able to criticize everyone -- even Muslims and Islam. Over and over, we heard the argument that "no one is above criticism, we are a free country." No one or maybe except when you kill 17 people and they happen to be Palestinians, then freedom of expression isn't used -- it is replaced by silence.</p>
<p>Even our Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland -- whose spokesperson <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-trump-jerusalem-israel-1.4436251" target="_blank">explained her silence on the U.S. moving its embassy to Jerusalem</a> with the reason, "The minister does not make statements about world events before they happen" -- didn't say a word about the killing of 17 Palestinians by the Israeli army.</p>
<p>However, Minister Freeland was eloquent in <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/four-canadian-diplomats-expelled-from-russia-1.3865725" target="_blank">speaking out about the expulsion of four Russian diplomats from Canada</a>, because of the alleged Russian poisoning of an ex-Russian agent and his daughter in Britain. There is not an investigation into the poisonings yet, no report yet and still she was quick to take strong actions and words. But on the killing of Palestinians, despite the flagrant casualties, the pictures on social media, the dead bodies shot by the bullets, the denouncing of <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/israelopt-stop-the-use-of-lethal-and-other-excessive-force-and-investigate-deaths-of-palestinian-protesters/" target="_blank">Amnesty International</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/04/03/israel-gaza-killings-unlawful-calculated" target="_blank">Human Rights Watch</a>, she kept silent.</p>
<p>In about a year, there will be a federal election. I really hope that Canadians will remember this troubling silence and think of the MPs that communities worked so hard to elect, the ones they distributed flyers for, the ones they went door to door to help elect, the ones they helped to raise funds. These hard-working communities should remember how their MPs reacted during these moments of tragedies. Did they react with silence or did they stand up for justice, even with a simple word? I am not saying that federal MPs should be elected solely on a single issue, in this regard their positions on Israel-Palestine. But rather, these positions are very eloquent. Sometimes silence is more telling than words.</p>
<p><em>Monia Mazigh was born and raised in Tunisia and immigrated to Canada in 1991. Mazigh was catapulted onto the public stage in 2002 when her husband, Maher Arar, was deported to Syria where he was tortured and held without charge for over a year. She campaigned tirelessly for his release. Mazigh holds a PhD in finance from McGill University. In 2008, she published a memoir, </em>Hope and Despair<em>, about her pursuit of justice, and recently, a novel about Muslim women, </em>Mirrors and Mirages<em>. You can follow her on Twitter @MoniaMazigh or on her blog <a href="http://www.moniamazigh.com" rel="nofollow">www.moniamazigh.com</a></em></p>
<p><em>Photo: </em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/grassrootsinternational/3408052880/in/photolist-6caaoq-5PD8FP-8rH521-5PHq4d-p3cP67-61Kfhs-6ca4NN-61Kfsj-61F3MD-5Rv8B3-61Kfob-dY3GPH-61KfnU-5PD8RR-dY9pL9-6nTk6K-61KfsG-6c5W9t-5Tmnmg-6nXuv3-61Kfrh-CpDFEN-6c5Y7e-5QBTi1-61F3M8-5PMR3o-oFMXxK-6c61Tr-v2WBbg-v2WDXZ-uZkPeG-u5PeDV-6nTmgZ-6nTm1M-BcoC1i-opAac5-AjdPTs-Gmcpp7-vmrqaX-v4S49y-upr6Qu-vmMeWg-o9w9fw-uprboN-vmMjHR-vj8MZN-u5DFFA-upr9cd-upAWUn-upr7dU" target="_blank"><em>Grassroots International/Flickr</em></a></p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/attack-on-gaza">attack on Gaza</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/israel-palestine-conflict">Israel-Palestine Conflict</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/palestinian-human-rights">palestinian human rights</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/israel-politics">Israel politics</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4667">Canadian foreign policy</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/bios/columnist/monia-mazigh">Monia Mazigh</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-story-publish-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">April 6, 2018</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item1 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/01/islamophobia-continues-fester-wake-quebec-city-mosque-shooting" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Islamophobia continues to fester in wake of Quebec City mosque shooting</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item1-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">On January 29, 2018, Canada will commemorate the first anniversary of the shocking murder of six Muslim men in a Quebec City mosque. What has been achieved in the fight against Islamophobia?</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item2 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/2018/04/conservative-partys-cynical-politics-jerusalem">The Conservative Party&#039;s cynical politics on Jerusalem</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item2-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Conservatives&#039; recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will trade the well-being of Israelis and Palestinians for short-sighted domestic political interests.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item3 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/independent-jewish-voices-canada/2018/02/its-time-ndp-stand-democracy-and-human" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">It&#039;s time for the NDP to stand for democracy and human rights for Palestinians</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item3-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">A call to action to fellow NDP members: support non-violent measures for a just peace in Israel and Palestine.</div></div></div>Fri, 06 Apr 2018 14:51:53 +0000rabble staff144021 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/04/when-it-comes-palestine-many-canadian-politicians-are-silent#commentsBadke dance brings Palestinian experience to the stage https://rabble.ca/columnists/2016/02/badke-dance-brings-palestinian-experience-to-stage
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/gaza">Gaza</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/arts-culture">Arts &amp; Culture</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/world">World</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/kvs_badke_dannywillems_9041.jpg?itok=-rjbwFgs" width="1180" height="600" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p><em>Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. <a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/donate/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Chip in</a> to keep stories like these coming.</em></p>
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<p>Hildegard De Vuyst recalls the first time a hybrid dance performance based on a traditional Palestinian/Arab dance called dabke was performed back in 2009. It occurred after a four-week workshop with 11 Palestinian performers.</p>
<p>"We did it outdoors in the town of Birzeit and near the mosque. It was lovely," the Brussels-based choreographer/dramaturge recalls. "And from that workshop, we have performed and altered it over the years."</p>
<p>Called <em>In the Park</em>, that workshop and performance would become the seeds for <em><a href="http://www.qattanfoundation.org/en/cap-badke-dance-production-en" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Badke</a></em>, which has its Canadian premiere in Toronto from Feb. 17 to 20 at the <a href="http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage/badke/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Fleck Dance Theatre</a>. The production is a collaboration between <a href="http://www.kvs.be/en/kvs-is" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">KVS (the Brussels City Theatre)</a>, Les Ballets C de la B, and the A.M. Qattan Foundation.</p>
<p>"I heard Toronto is such an exciting city with people from all over the world," De Vuyst says. "We are looking forward to seeing a very diverse audience."</p>
<p><em>In the Park</em> cemented De Vuyst's collaboration with Badke's co-choreographers, Koen Augustijnen and Rosalba Torres Guerrero. It also helped the trio create a blueprint for the performance as a multidisciplinary dance utilizing dancers of diverse backgrounds in movement.</p>
<p>Over the years, De Vuyst has worked with different Palestinian performers which allows the choreographers to also infuse the backgrounds of the various dancers into the work: from circus arts to the Brazilian martial arts dance capoeira.</p>
<p>This time, the production gathers six Palestinian women who live in Israel with six Palestinian male hip-hop dancers from Nablus.</p>
<p>"The show has such a long history now, we completely re-made it in 2015 with a new team."</p>
<p><strong>Social folk dance</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW82PVk2Uqk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><em>Badke's</em> foundations</a> lie in dabke, an Arabic social folk dance. It is the only kind of physical expression permitted in public, according to De Vuyst.</p>
<p>"It's the idea of a collective, a group, " she explains. "It's a line dance, shoulder to shoulder, and it's very connected to the floor. If you've ever seen Russian Cossack dancing, it's similar."</p>
<p><img src="/sites/rabble/files/node-images/detail_badke_8_1.jpg" width="556" height="278" /></p>
<p>Transforming the dance meant also playing with its rules. The music itself is the kind of popular music you would hear on buses in Palestine -- "flashy Arabic music," as De Vuyst puts it.</p>
<p>As for the physical aspects of the dance, that has also been played with.</p>
<p>"It's about everything from the thighs to the feet and from the chest to the hands. So, no hips, pelvis or ass."</p>
<p>De Vuyst, Augustijnen and Torres Guerrero decided to include the parts of the body that are traditionally ignored or, as De Vuyst puts it: "We called it The Ass Dance section."</p>
<p>As far as selecting dancers, she points out that it was crucial in every production to include people who were not conventional dancers or had a dance education.</p>
<p>"We call it a bastard dance where one dancer can teach another something different. It transforms the material and regenerates and evolves."</p>
<p><em>Badke</em> is described as "politically charged" and about the survival of the Palestinian people. Asked about how this is expressed on stage, De Vuyst provides a couple of details.</p>
<p>"It's very physical and leads to exhaustion. The dancers are neat and clean at first and then their costumes start to show sweat, the ties go off," she says. "But they keep going. They don't give in and at certain times the electricity is cut and the dancers start to sing and continue to dance."</p>
<p><img src="/sites/rabble/files/node-images/kvs_badke_dannywillems_9454.jpg" width="554" height="369" /></p>
<p><em>Badke</em> translates across boundaries she says. When it was performed in Kinshasa, the audience was very receptive and understood the performance at an emotional level.</p>
<p>"They could connect to it strongly because they also experience cuts to electricity and they've been through a lot too," De Vuyst points out. "When there is no electricity, you still have the means to create your own existence."</p>
<p>De Vuyst feels audiences are craving a bodily emotional connection to dance and that's why the creators of <em>Badke</em> eschewed what would be seen as typical depictions of life in Palestine.</p>
<p>"We didn't want to show violence or war. We wanted to show resilience and lust for life," she emphasizes. "They suffer but they continue to dance because to stop would mean defeat and they cannot let that happen."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage/badke/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><em>Badke</em>, Feb. 17-20</a></p>
<p>Fleck Dance Theatre at Queen's Quay West, Toronto</p>
<p><em>June Chua is a Berlin-based journalist who regularly writes about the arts for </em>rabble.ca<em>.</em></p>
<p><em>Photos by Danny Willems.</em></p>
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</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/19141">Palestine</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/dance">dance</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/modern-dance">Modern Dance</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/israel-palestine">israel-palestine</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/arab-culture">arab culture</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/palestinian-human-rights">palestinian human rights</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/attack-on-gaza">attack on Gaza</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/bios/columnist/june-chua">June Chua</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-story-publish-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">February 8, 2016</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item1 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/09/inventive-documentary-uses-4-cows-to-explore-first-intifada" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Inventive documentary uses 4 cows to explore the First Intifada</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item1-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Combining stop-motion animation, interviews, drawings and archival material, &quot;The Wanted 18&quot; brings to life the struggle of the First Intifada, the first Palestinian uprising in 1987.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item2 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/columnists/2015/02/regirling-girl-phenomenal-feminist-dance">ReGirling the Girl: A phenomenal feminist dance</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item2-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In a production using research with young dancers, choreographer Lisa Sandlos explores the over-sexualization of women, particularly young dancers in the world of competitive dance.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item3 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/eva-bartlett-gaza/2012/06/celebrating-palestinian-64-years-resistance-and-resilience" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Celebrating 64 years of Palestinian resistance and resilience</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item3-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">For the last 64 years, Palestinian women, men, elderly and youth have steadfastly and spiritedly resisted the occupation and the Zionist state.</div></div></div>Wed, 03 Feb 2016 21:40:01 +0000rabble staff122842 at https://rabble.caEnd the siege: Remembering the 2014 Gaza massacrehttps://rabble.ca/news/2015/07/end-siege-remembering-2014-gaza-massacre
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Brian Campbell</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news/2015/07/end-siege-remembering-2014-gaza-massacre"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/gaza2014.jpeg?itok=79CqLp9f" width="1180" height="600" alt="Image courtesy of Kathleen Copps" title="Image courtesy of Kathleen Copps" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p><em> <a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/donate/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Chip in</a> to keep stories like these coming.</em></p>
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<p>On July 8, 2014, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge against a largely defenseless Gaza, resulting in the massacre of 2,200 people, mostly civilians, including 500 children. It was preceded by Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 in which over 1,400 were killed, again largely civilians and Operation Pillar of Defense in which 167 were killed.</p>
<p>The Gaza Strip is an area approximately the size of Surrey with a population of 1.8 million, 80 per cent of whom are refugees or their descendants. Gaza has no army, no navy, no air force. For the last eight years it has been subject to a crippling Israeli military siege which has destroyed its economy.</p>
<p>Since 2008 it has been attacked by the Israeli military in three major assaults in addition to frequent smaller incursions. Between Sept. 2014 after signing the temporary ceasefire and mid-June 2015, there have been 316 incidents of Israeli naval fire, 400 of border fire, 23 air strikes and 23 army incursions.</p>
<p>Israel claims that its army is the most moral in the world. This fantasy is fundamentally undermined by its attacks on civilians who are basically unarmed. Hamas's rockets are primitive and the rest of their arsenal is mostly limited to hand weapons. The claim is further eroded by evidence given by Israeli soldiers in <em>Breaking the Silence</em> who report horrendous crimes against civilians and orders like "Any person you run into: Shoot to Kill" </p>
<p>These are military campaigns against a defenseless people who are then massacred. Each attack destroys homes and public infrastructure such as sewage, water treatment and filtration plants, electricity generation plants, schools and hospitals. Because of the siege, this infrastructure is never rebuilt.</p>
<p>Experts estimate that Israel used munitions equal to six atomic bombs on Gaza in 2014. Sections of Gaza resemble Stalingrad after WWII or Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb. Levels of hunger, unemployment (45 per cent including 65 per cent of youth) and health problems are beyond belief. Ninety-six per cent of the water is unfit for human consumption. Electricity is available for less than 12 hours a day.</p>
<p>Not a single one of the 19,075 houses destroyed during Operation Protection Edge has been rebuilt and over 100,000 people remain displaced. According to figures from the organization Shelter Cluster, at the current rate it will take 19 years to rebuild the houses destroyed and 76 years to build all the housing needed. Even before that devastating assault Gaza was already in need of more than 200 new schools</p>
<p>The World Health Organization estimates that if Israel's policies towards Gaza continue, it will be uninhabitable by 2020. A mere five years away.</p>
<p>Israel's response to the growing international outrage over its illegal occupation and settlements is to deny there is a problem and to attack its critics as anti-semitic. Recently Moshe Yaalon, Israeli Defense Minister, stated that "There is no humanitarian distress in Gaza."</p>
<p>With the support of American billionaires the Israeli State is ramping up its hasbara (after public diplomacy/propaganda) campaign against critics of Israel, and most especially the grass roots (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) BDS movement.</p>
<p>As Jonathan Cook entitled a recent article "If the 'product' is wrong, a rebrand won't help Israel" he concludes that "Hasbara's cartoon version of reality is not only unconvincing but, in alienating friends as much as foes, self-defeating. Netanyahu may hope to repackage Israel, but his product -- continuing oppression of Palestinians -- is one few can be persuaded to buy."</p>
<p>The BDS movement is proving to be a powerful weapon of international support for the Palestinian struggle against occupation and the denial of fundamental right. History is on their side. Hasbara may capture the world's media and the attention of powerful elites, but our grassroots movement is winning public support.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.boycottisraeliapartheid.org/2015/end-the-seige-free-palestine/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><strong>Rally in Vancouver at 5:30 on July 8 at the CBC Plaza</strong></a> (West Georgia and Hamilton St) to commemorate the massacre of 2,200 Palestinians in last year's brutal attack on Gaza and the 10th anniversary of the call for the creation of the BDS movement by 170 organizations in Palestinian civil society.</p>
<p>The following organizations have endorsed the event:</p>
<p>Boycott Israel Apartheid Campaign <br />Canada Palestine Association<br />Canadian Boat to Gaza<br />CanPalNet<br />Coalition Against Israel Apartheid-Victoria<br />Critical Muslim Voices<br />Independent Jewish Voices<br />United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Brian Campbell is a recent recipient of the 2015 Canadian Library Association Award for Advancement Of Intellectual Freedom in Canada. </em></p>
</p></div></div></div>Wed, 08 Jul 2015 15:49:32 +0000rabble staff119054 at https://rabble.caCanada's bloody political consensus on Israel and Palestinehttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/dave-bush/2015/07/canadas-bloody-political-consensus-on-israelpalestine
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">David Bush</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/gaza-destruction-11.jpg?itok=_Cvlaori" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p><em> <a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/donate/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Chip in</a> to keep stories like these coming.</em></p>
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<p> </p>
<p>A year ago today Israel commenced Operation Protective Edge, their third major assault on the Gaza strip since 2008. The response from Canada's political parties was a swift and unflinching support for Israel. The 51-day war, or rather display of modern mechanical butchery by the IDF, <a href="http://gazadeathtoll.org/" rel="nofollow">killed 2,251 Palestinians</a>, over two thirds of whom were civilians, including 500 children. More than 10,000 were injured. By comparison <a href="http://imeu.org/article/50-days-of-death-destruction-israels-operation-protective-edge" rel="nofollow">71 Israelis were killed</a> and only six of them were civilians. Roughly 500 Israelis were injured.</p>
<p>By any account this was a slaughter. But the grim toll of lives and limbs only scratches the surface of the savagery. An <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.620698" rel="nofollow">estimated 20,000 Palestinian homes were destroyed or suffered major damage</a> (<a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4605408,00.html" rel="nofollow">this figure might be very low</a>) and more than 100,000 people were displaced. Twenty-seven government schools, 46 clinics, 15 hospitals, eight fire stations, one ambulance station and over 500 factories and workshops were either completely destroyed or severely damaged. The agricultural sector in Gaza suffered major losses as <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/food-gaza-insecurity-israel-war-destruction.html" rel="nofollow">Israel targeted nearly half of the agricultural sector</a> -- driving up food prices. <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/13813-one-third-of-gazas-mosques-destroyed-by-israeli-strikes" rel="nofollow">The Israelis also obliterated 73 mosques and partially damaged 200 others</a>, as well as Gaza's only two churches -- that is roughly one third of the mosques in Gaza. The IDF didn’t just slaughter Palestinians -- it destroyed their livelihoods. </p>
<p>Because of the ongoing blockade of Gaza there has been <a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2015/04/destroyed-rebuilt-israeli" rel="nofollow">no progress in rebuilding</a>. Only roughly <a href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765098" rel="nofollow">10 per cent of the materials needed for reconstruction have been allowed into Gaza</a> most of which is earmarked for Qatari development projects and not housing. The housing <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gazas-housing-crisis-this-is-much-worse-than-the-war-9736400.html" rel="nofollow">crisis means increased rents</a>, which only adds to the daily struggle for Gazans. The <a href="http://gisha.org/reports-and-data/the-gaza-cheat-sheet" rel="nofollow">unemployment rate in Gaza hovers around 40 per cent and over 70 percent of residents rely on some form of humanitarian aid</a>.</p>
<p>While many international leaders blamed Hamas and their rockets, it was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/07/22/self-defense-or-atrocties-in-gaza/look-carefully-at-who-started-the-current-israel-hamas-conflict" rel="nofollow">Israeli airstrikes meting out death from above in Gaza that precipitated the escalation of violence</a>. And underlying the suffering brought about by the war was the even deeper wound of the occupation and blockade.</p>
<p>So what has been the response of Canada's political class?</p>
<p>Within days of the assault <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/israel-middle-east/stephen-harper-accuses-hamas-of-using-human-shields-urges-world-leaders-to-side-with-israel" rel="nofollow">Harper blamed Hamas for the violence saying</a>, "the indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel are terrorist acts, for which there is no justification." He stated that Hamas was responsible for civilian causalities in Gaza and "is deliberately using human shields to further terror in the region."</p>
<p>As the destruction of Gaza was underway the <a href="http://www.liberal.ca/statement-liberal-party-canada-leader-justin-trudeau-situation-israel-gaza/" rel="nofollow">Liberals released a statement that was indistinguishable from the Conservative position</a>. They condemned Hamas as a terrorist organization and blamed them for starting the war. On August 11, <a href="https://www.liberal.ca/liberal-leader-justin-trudeaus-speech-liberal-party-canadas-eid-dinner/" rel="nofollow">in a speech celebrating Eid al Fitr in Mississauga</a>, Trudeau declared his support for a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel. The rhetorical support for a two-state solution is no different than the Conservative’s position or that of the Israeli government. Even Prime Minister Netanyahu who has spent most of his adult life fighting the formation of a Palestinian state, rhetorically supports a two-state solution for the international stage (<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/03/netanyahu-state-solution-150308213734653.html" rel="nofollow">though during his recent election campaign he briefly opposed it</a>). </p>
<p>The Conservative and Liberal support for Israel is no surprise. The <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-long-history-of-zionism-in-canada/5364319?print=1" rel="nofollow">two parties have given unwavering support</a> in words, deeds and funds to Israel over the years. </p>
<p>What about the NDP?</p>
<p>On July 22, the NDP released <a href="http://www.ndp.ca/news/statement-ndp-leader-tom-mulcair-situation-middle-east" rel="nofollow">a statement that condemned the loss of life in the conflict</a>, denounced Hamas as a terrorist organization and supported a two-state solution. In short, the statement differed little from the Liberal and Conservative positions. As the slaughter in Gaza dragged on and the protests in the streets condemning Israel's aggression grew, it became apparent to many how deeply reactionary the NDP's position was. Mulcair tried to distinguish his stance from Harper's by <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canada-politics/ndp-leader-thomas-mulcair-calls-stephen-harper-help-134554574.html" rel="nofollow">supporting the call to allow 100 children from Gaza to come to Canada for medical support</a>. But this line essentially parroted Israeli propaganda -- we love the children, but hate Hamas. <a href="http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/angry-with-partys-stance-on-gaza-conflict-ndp-supporters-occupy-paul-dewars-office" rel="nofollow">A series of NDP MP office occupations</a> by activists across the country aimed to shame the NDP and get the party to correct its stance on the issue. </p>
<p>The NDP has long had MPs willing to criticize Israel -- Svend Robinson and Libby Davis being the most prominent examples. But since Mulcair became leader criticism of Israel, or even talk about the issue has all but evaporated. Mulcair describes himself as an ardent supporter of Israel, "<a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/john-ivison-tom-mulcair-brings-ndp-a-new-maturity-over-israel" rel="nofollow">in all situations, in all circumsatnces</a>." During the attack, <a href="http://www.isupport-boulerice.org/gaza_mutual_destruction_is_not_the_solution_peace_is" rel="nofollow">NDP MP Alex Boulerice circulated a petition calling on Israel to end the occupation and siege</a>. Davis <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/ndp-deputy-leader-libby-davies-diverges-from-mulcair-with-stronger-stance-on-israel-gaza-conflict" rel="nofollow">posted her condemnation of the civilian death toll on social media</a>, but largely remained silent compared to her past statements on the issue. After <a href="http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1227534-protest-at-halifax-mp-megan-leslie-s-office-urges-ndp-to-get-tougher-with-israel" rel="nofollow">a protest outside her constituency office</a> Meagan Leslie <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MeganLeslieMP/posts/10152336057522983" rel="nofollow">released a statement</a> that condemned Israel's illegal settlements and expressed outrage at the civilian deaths in Gaza, without condemning Israel's role in killing those civilians.</p>
<p>By the end of the summer <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ndp-mp-quits-party-over-mulcairs-stance-on-israel/article20136700/" rel="nofollow">one NDP MP</a> quit over the party's "excessively pro-Israel stance on the current conflict in Gaza." The NDP, which has mostly been silent on the issue of late, has not altered its basic position from last summer. </p>
<p>The Green Party in the summer of 2014 passed a resolution <a href="https://www.greenparty.ca/en/convention-2014/voting/motions/g14-p22" rel="nofollow">condemning Israel's illegal settlements</a>. But during the attack the Green Party posted a statement from their party president, Paul Estrin, <a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/michael-stewart/2014/07/green-party-wins-worst-statement-on-gaza-award-hands-down" rel="nofollow">which condemned Palestinians for their own suffering</a>. Estrin, under pressure from inside and outside the party, resigned. Elizabeth May, who backed the resolution condemning Israel's illegal settlements, is at best an opportunist on the issue. <a href="http://psnedmonton.ca/2013/11/29/where-does-elizabeth-may-stand-on-palestine/" rel="nofollow">She blames Hamas for the conflict, condemns any boycotts of Israel</a>, praises the Jewish National Fund (<a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2014/05/national-settlement-projects" rel="nofollow">which is one the major mechanisms for settlement expansion</a>), and she declares herself a strong supporter of Israel.</p>
<p>When terrorists killed eight journalists and cartoonists at the satirical French magazine <em>Charlie Hebdo</em> this past winter all the major parties condemned the assault on freedom of speech. When Israel murdered 15 journalists during Operation Protective Edge not one politician in Canada condemned Israel’s silencing of free speech. The hypocrisy of Canadian politicians runs deep. </p>
<p>All three major parties offer Israel uncritical support. They are silent on Israel's numerous war crimes, and violations of UN resolutions and international law. They are silent on the regular and racist practices within Israel. If and when they do acknowledge human suffering by Palestinians they either fail to mention who causes it or blame Hamas. Most importantly they ignore the occupation and blockade, and the day-to-day suffering they impose. It is the occupation that is at the root of the problem and any statement or perspective that doesn’t acknowledge this is nothing short of pro-Israeli propaganda. No two-state solution, one-state solution or peace can exist as long as the Israeli settlement project in the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza continues.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-shows-canadians-split-on-support-for-israel-palestinians/" rel="nofollow">most recent polling</a> (done before the conflict last summer) shows that Canadians are evenly split in their support for Israel or the Palestinians. However, our political class doesn't reflect that. The NDP has little to lose and much to gain from taking a strong stance against Israeli aggression and the occupation. By monopolizing this open political space they can give voice to those seeking justice for Palestine and also help shift the public debate. Of course, the point isn't that the NDP should do something because it is politically opportune, but rather because it is the principled thing to do. </p>
<p>With the federal election coming up it is time for the political consensus on this issue to be broken. When local candidates come knocking, demand answers. If they don't have any good ones tell them to hit the road. During local candidate debates speak up on the issue -- not just to pressure politicians, but to ensure the issue is aired to a wider audience. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/07/22/gaza-conflict-israel-harper-ottawa-protest_n_5610589.html" rel="nofollow">massive solidarity demonstrations</a> that have sprung up in response to Israel's numerous attacks on Gaza in recent years are heartening. The Palestinian solidarity movement has won impressive <a href="http://www.bdsmovement.net/tag/canada" rel="nofollow">gains in the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions</a> against Israel. The debate has shifted, but our political leaders remain on the wrong side of history. </p>
<p>The all-party consensus on Israel/Palestine is a consensus on slaughter, a consensus written in blood. It operates on silence, fear and half-truths and only by speaking up can we end it. </p>
<p> </p>
</p></div></div></div>Wed, 08 Jul 2015 12:22:52 +0000Dave Bush119049 at https://rabble.caSailing again to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gazahttps://rabble.ca/news/2015/07/sailing-again-to-break-israeli-naval-blockade-gaza
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ann Wright</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news/2015/07/sailing-again-to-break-israeli-naval-blockade-gaza"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/unnamed_1.png?itok=m8WbdyGm" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p><em> <a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/donate/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Chip in</a> to keep stories like these coming.</em></p>
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<p>I've just set foot on dry land after five days at sea on one of the four boats of Gaza Freedom Flotilla III.</p>
<p>The land I have set foot on is not Gaza, nor Israel, but Greece. Why Greece?</p>
<p>New strategies are needed to keep the momentum for challenging the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and the isolation of the Palestinians there. Our attempts in the past five years have resulted in the Israeli government's piracy in international waters seizing a virtual armada of our ships, kidnapping hundreds of citizens from dozens of countries, charging them with entering Israel illegally and deporting them for a 10 year period, which denies them the opportunity to visit with Israelis and Palestinians in Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank. </p>
<p>The ships that form the flotillas have been purchased at substantial expense through the fundraising efforts of Palestinian supporters in many countries. After litigation in Israeli courts, only two of the vessels have been returned to their owners. The remainder, at least seven ships, are in Haifa harbor and apparently are part of a tourist tour to see the ships that terrorize Israel. One boat reportedly has been used as a target for Israeli naval bombardment.</p>
<p>The newest strategy is not to sail all of the ships in any flotilla into Israeli hands. The publicity, primarily in the Israeli press, of an impending flotilla of unknown size coming from unknown departure points, forces the Israeli government intelligence and military organizations to expend resources, human and financial, on determining what unarmed civilians are challenging their naval blockade of Gaza -- and how they are challenging it. </p>
<p>Hopefully, for every minute Israeli government organizations expend to try to stop the ships in a flotilla they are making resources unavailable for the continued horrific treatment of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank.</p>
<p>For example, the day before the Marianne ship from Sweden was captured, an Israeli aircraft flew a search pattern for two hours over ships in the area to attempt to determine how many vessels were in this area and which might be a part of the flotilla. We suspect there were other Israeli vessels, to include submarines, with electronic capability to identify radio or satellite transmissions from all ships in the area and attempt to pinpoint our ships. These efforts come at a cost to the Israeli government, much more of a cost than our purchasing ships and having passengers fly to flotilla departure points.</p>
<p>While Israeli resources are unlimited compared to ours, especially when one factors in that the United States provides Israel substantial intelligence assistance and over $3 billion per year, our flotillas tie up many Israelis, from the prime minister himself who was forced to make a statement about a Palestinian-Israeli member of the Knesset and the former president of Tunisia who volunteered to be passengers on the flotilla, to the foreign minister responding to condemnations by Sweden and Norway of the Israeli attack on a Swedish ship in international waters, to the public relations arm of the Israeli government that must deal with media inquires about where the ship was captured, reports of abusive treatment of the passengers by the IDF and finally to the numerous military intelligence and operational units-land, air and sea- that are ordered to physically respond to the flotilla.</p>
<p>The two-month voyage of the vessel Marianne from Sweden, along the coast of Europe, and into the Mediterranean with stops in coastal cities in eight countries provided an educational opportunity to schedule an event in each of the cities for discussion about the horrific effects of the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. </p>
<p>This is the third flotilla in which I have participated. The 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla ended with Israeli commandos executing nine passengers (a tenth passenger subsequently died of gunshots) and wounding fifty on the Turkish ship <em>Mavi Marmara,</em> assaulting passengers on each of the six ships in the flotilla and taking over 600 passengers to Israeli prisons before deporting them.</p>
<p>The 2011 Gaza Freedom Flotilla had 10 ships from 22 national campaigns. The Israeli government paid off the Greek government to not let the ships in Greek waters leave ports, although the U.S. Boat to Gaza, The Audacity of Hope and the Canadian Boat to Gaza the Tahrir, did attempt to depart for Gaza, but were brought back into ports by armed Greek commandos.</p>
<p>The Tahrir and the Irish Boat to Gaza,the Saoirse subsequently attempted to sail to Gaza in November 2011 and were captured by Israeli commandos, and in October 2012, the Swedish sailing vessel <em>Estelle </em>attempted to sail to Gaza and was taken by Israel.</p>
<p>From 2012 through 2014, international efforts to end the Israeli naval siege of Gaza were focused on breaking the blockade by sailing from Gaza into international waters. International campaigns raised funds to convert a fishing vessel in Gaza City harbor into a cargo ship. We named the vessel Gaza's Ark.</p>
<p>The international community was asked to purchase handicrafts and dried agricultural products from Gaza to be placed on the vessel for transport out of Gaza. In April 2014 as the one-year conversion of the fishing boat into a cargo vessel was nearing completion, an explosion blew a hole in the stern of the boat. Two months later, in June 2014, in the second day of the 55-day Israeli attack on Gaza, Israeli missiles targeted <em>Gaza's Ark</em> and blew it up causing a tremendous fire and irrepairable damage to the vessel.</p>
<p>As one of the 70 passengers/media/crew representing 22 countries who participated on Gaza Freedom Flotilla 3… citizens from Israel, United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Greece, Sweden, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia, Norway, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Finland, France, Germany, Russia, South Africa, Morocco and Algeria..we took time from our lives to bring the Israeli siege of Gaza to international attention-once again. </p>
<p>For us as passengers, the physical act of being captured and put in prison by the State of Israel is not the most important part of our activism. The fact that we have come together again in another action to bring international attention to the Israeli siege of Gaza is the goal-and we will continue these actions until the Israeli government ends the blockade of Gaza.</p>
<p>To those in Gaza, the ships to Gaza whether in flotillas or one ship at a time, are a visible sign of the concern of citizens around the world for their welfare. As 21 year old Mohammed Alhammami, a member of the group of young people in Gaza called <a href="http://wearenotnumbers.org/home" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">We Are Not Numbers</a>, wrote:</p>
<blockquote><p>"I think the flotilla participants are courageous. They are brave enough to face this brutal regime with high spirits, fully knowing that death is a possibility, as was the fate of the brave Turkish activists. It is when ordinary people, leading ordinary lives, join together to make a statement that change happens. Netanyahu should know; after all, that many Jewish lives were saved in the Holocaust because of ordinary civilians taking extraordinary actions."</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>This piece originally appeared on </em><a href="http://warisacrime.org/content/sailing-again-break-israeli-naval-blockade-gaza" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">War Is A Crime</a><em> and is reprinted with permission.</em></p>
<p><em>Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Reserve Colonel. She also served 16 years as a U.S. diplomat in U.S. Embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. She was on the small team that reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in December 2001. She resigned from the U.S. government in March, 2003 in opposition to President Bush's war on Iraq. </em></p>
</p></div></div></div>Tue, 07 Jul 2015 16:00:12 +0000rabble staff119035 at https://rabble.caIsrael seizes Flotilla ship to Gaza and deports two human rights advocates to Canadahttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/canadianboattogaza/2015/07/israel-seizes-flotilla-ship-to-gaza-and-deports-two-human-
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Canadian Boat to Gaza</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/niesh_lovelace_1.jpg?itok=rmjMpuU9" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Two Canadians, Robert Lovelace and Kevin Neish, who were on board the Freedom Flotilla III boat Marianne, headed towards Gaza when it <a href="http://rabble.ca/news/2015/06/two-canadians-detained-after-israel-illegally-seizes-freedom-flotilla-iii-ship" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">was seized by Israeli forces</a> early Monday morning, are returning to Canada today.</p>
<p>Israeli forces used an electric weapon against four Swedish crew members during their illegal seizure of vessel, which Israeli government sources described as "uneventful." The two were held in an Israeli prison with seven other Flotilla participants from Sweden, Norway and Russia, until being transferred to Ben Gurion Airport late Wednesday. They are expected to land at Pearson International Airport at 6:55 p.m., Thursday July 2.</p>
<p>Neish, a retired marine engineer from Victoria B.C., had been sailing with the Marianne since it left Sweden in early May. Lovelace, a Queen's university professor and member of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, joined the ship at its last port of call, Messina in Sicily on June 19.</p>
<p>"We are very happy to welcome home our two friends from their mission but we remain concerned about the six Swedish activists still in prison in Israel," commented David Heap, spokesperson for the Canadian Boat to Gaza Campaign. "Even more than freedom for our international friends, we want to see the world demand freedom of movement for the 1.8 million Palestinians living in the open-air prison of Gaza."</p>
<p>Ehab Lotayef, a Montreal engineer and writer, and Christian Martel, a retired trade-unionist from Québec, were among the internationals who participated in Freedom Flotilla III. They were on a different boat, the Rachel, which returns to Athens today. "Now we are focusing on future Flotillas to continue to challenge the blockade of Gaza," comments Lotayef. "The blockade must end completely and Palestinians must regain their full rights."</p>
<p> </p>
</p></div></div></div>Thu, 02 Jul 2015 15:21:13 +0000CanadianBoatToGaza118950 at https://rabble.ca